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Introduction: Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, it is known that the severe course of the disease occurs mostly among the elderly, whereas it is rare among children and young adults. Comorbidities, in particular, diabetes and hypertension, clearly associated with age, besides obesity and smoke, are strongly associated with the need for intensive treatment and a dismal outcome. A weaker immunity of the elderly has been proposed as a possible explanation of this uneven age distribution. Thus, there is concern that children treated for cancer may allso be at risk for an unfavourable course of infection. Along the same line, anecdotal information from Wuhan, China, mentioned a severe course of COVID-19 in a child treated for leukaemia. Aim and methods: We made a flash survey on COVID-19 incidence and severity among children on anticancer treatment. Respondents were asked by email to fill in a short Web-based survey. Results: We received reports from 25 countries, where approximately 10,000 patients at risk are followed up. At the time of the survey, more than 200 of these children were tested, nine of whom were positive for COVID-19. Eight of the nine cases had asymptomatic to mild disease, and one was just diagnosed with COVID-19. We also discuss preventive measures that are in place or should be taken and treatment options in immunocompromised children with COVID-19. Conclusion: Thus, even children receiving anticancer chemotherapy may have a mild or asymptomatic course of COVID-19. While we should not underestimate the risk of developing a more severe course of COVID-19 than that observed here, the intensity of preventive measures should not cause delays or obstructions in oncological treatment.

Background: Adolescents (aged 10–17 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) have unfavourable disease features and an inferior outcome when compared with younger children, but it is still unclear if differences in disease biology and prognosis exist between adolescents older or younger than 15 years. Methods: We retrospectively analysed outcomes of 1094 adolescents with ALL, aged 10–17 years, treated within the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 trial, overall and by the age groups 10–14 and 15–17 years. Findings: Compared with younger children (aged 1–9 years, n = 3647), adolescents had a statistically inferior 5-year event-free survival (EFS) [74.6% (1.3) vs. 84.4% (0.6)] and overall survival (OS) [83.4% (1.1) vs. 92.7% (0.4); p < 0.001]. Clinical and biological disease characteristics did not differ between the two subgroups of adolescents, including minimal residual disease (MRD) results during initial therapy, except for ETV6-RUNX1 frequency and gender. With a median follow-up of 8.8 years, the 5-year EFS and OS were 76.2% (1.5) and 84.9% (1.3), respectively, for those aged 10–14 years and 70.0% (2.8) and 78.8% (2.5) for those aged 15–17 years (p = 0.06; 0.05). There was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of relapses [17.8% (1.4) and 18.3% (2.4); p = 0.98], while the incidence of treatment-related deaths as a first event was 2.6% (0.6) versus 7.4% (1.6) (p < 0.001) with, in particular, a higher incidence in the high-risk arm. Interpretation: Further prospective studies and biological investigations are required to define optimal treatment for adolescents, in particular for those aged 15–17 years. Newer agents (immunotherapy, targeted therapy) in early treatment phases of patients at higher risk of treatment failure could replace most toxic treatment elements, with the aim of reducing both toxicity and the risk of relapses.

ABL-class fusions other than BCR-ABL1 characterize around 2-3% of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Case series indicated that patients suffering from these subtypes have a dismal outcome and may benefit from the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We analyzed clinical characteristics and outcome of 46 ABL-class fusion positive cases other than BCR-ABL1 treated according to AIEOP-BFM (Associazione Italiana di Ematologia-Oncologia Pediatrica-Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster) ALL 2000 and 2009 protocols; 13 of them received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) during different phases of treatment. ABL-class fusion positive cases had a poor early treatment response: minimal residual disease levels of ≥5x10-4 were observed in 71.4% of patients after induction treatment and in 51.2% after consolidation phase. For the entire cohort of 46 cases, the 5-year probability of event-free survival was 49.1+8.9% and that of overall survival 69.6+7.8%; the cumulative incidence of relapse was 25.6+8.2% and treatment-related mortality (TRM) 20.8+6.8%. One out of 13 cases with TKI added to chemotherapy relapsed while eight of 33 cases without TKI treatment suffered from relapse, including six in 17 patients who had not received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Stem cell transplantation seems to be effective in preventing relapses (only three relapses in 25 patients), but was associated with a very high TRM (6 patients). These data indicate a major need for an early identification of ABL-class fusion positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases and to establish a properly designed, controlled study aimed at investigating the use of TKI, the appropriate chemotherapy backbone and the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. (Registered at: clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NTC00430118, NCT00613457, NCT01117441).

Aims DNA methylation-based central nervous system (CNS) tumour classification has identified numerous molecularly distinct tumour types, and clinically relevant subgroups among known CNS tumour entities that were previously thought to represent homogeneous diseases. Our study aimed at characterizing a novel, molecularly defined variant of glioneuronal CNS tumour. Patients and methods DNA methylation profiling was performed using the Infinium MethylationEPIC or 450 k BeadChip arrays (Illumina) and analysed using the 'conumee' package in R computing environment. Additional gene panel sequencing was also performed. Tumour samples were collected at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and provided by multinational collaborators. Histological sections were also collected and independently reviewed. Results Genome-wide DNA methylation data from >25 000 CNS tumours were screened for clusters separated from established DNA methylation classes, revealing a novel group comprising 31 tumours, mainly found in paediatric patients. This DNA methylation-defined variant of low-grade CNS tumours with glioneuronal differentiation displays recurrent monosomy 14, nuclear clusters within a morphology that is otherwise reminiscent of oligodendroglioma and other established entities with clear cell histology, and a lack of genetic alterations commonly observed in other (paediatric) glioneuronal entities. Conclusions DNA methylation-based tumour classification is an objective method of assessing tumour origins, which may aid in diagnosis, especially for atypical cases. With increasing sample size, methylation analysis allows for the identification of rare, putative new tumour entities, which are currently not recognized by the WHO classification. Our study revealed the existence of a DNA methylation-defined class of low-grade glioneuronal tumours with recurrent monosomy 14, oligodendroglioma-like features and nuclear clusters.

NO ABSTRACT

ABL-class fusions other than BCR-ABL1 characterize around 2-3% of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Case series indicated that patients suffering from these subtypes have a dismal outcome and may benefit from the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We analyzed clinical characteristics and outcome of 46 ABL-class fusion positive cases other than BCR-ABL1 treated according to AIEOP-BFM (Associazione Italiana di Ematologia-Oncologia Pediatrica-Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster) ALL 2000 and 2009 protocols; 13 of them received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) during different phases of treatment. ABL-class fusion positive cases had a poor early treatment response: minimal residual disease levels of ≥5x10-4 were observed in 71.4% of patients after induction treatment and in 51.2% after consolidation phase. For the entire cohort of 46 cases, the 5-year probability of event-free survival was 49.1+8.9% and that of overall survival 69.6+7.8%; the cumulative incidence of relapse was 25.6+8.2% and treatment-related mortality (TRM) 20.8+6.8%. One out of 13 cases with TKI added to chemotherapy relapsed while eight of 33 cases without TKI treatment suffered from relapse, including six in 17 patients who had not received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Stem cell transplantation seems to be effective in preventing relapses (only three relapses in 25 patients), but was associated with a very high TRM (6 patients). These data indicate a major need for an early identification of ABL-class fusion positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases and to establish a properly designed, controlled study aimed at investigating the use of TKI, the appropriate chemotherapy backbone and the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. (Registered at: clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NTC00430118, NCT00613457, NCT01117441).

Background: Adolescents (aged 10–17 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) have unfavourable disease features and an inferior outcome when compared with younger children, but it is still unclear if differences in disease biology and prognosis exist between adolescents older or younger than 15 years. Methods: We retrospectively analysed outcomes of 1094 adolescents with ALL, aged 10–17 years, treated within the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 trial, overall and by the age groups 10–14 and 15–17 years. Findings: Compared with younger children (aged 1–9 years, n = 3647), adolescents had a statistically inferior 5-year event-free survival (EFS) [74.6% (1.3) vs. 84.4% (0.6)] and overall survival (OS) [83.4% (1.1) vs. 92.7% (0.4); p < 0.001]. Clinical and biological disease characteristics did not differ between the two subgroups of adolescents, including minimal residual disease (MRD) results during initial therapy, except for ETV6-RUNX1 frequency and gender. With a median follow-up of 8.8 years, the 5-year EFS and OS were 76.2% (1.5) and 84.9% (1.3), respectively, for those aged 10–14 years and 70.0% (2.8) and 78.8% (2.5) for those aged 15–17 years (p = 0.06; 0.05). There was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of relapses [17.8% (1.4) and 18.3% (2.4); p = 0.98], while the incidence of treatment-related deaths as a first event was 2.6% (0.6) versus 7.4% (1.6) (p < 0.001) with, in particular, a higher incidence in the high-risk arm. Interpretation: Further prospective studies and biological investigations are required to define optimal treatment for adolescents, in particular for those aged 15–17 years. Newer agents (immunotherapy, targeted therapy) in early treatment phases of patients at higher risk of treatment failure could replace most toxic treatment elements, with the aim of reducing both toxicity and the risk of relapses.

X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) deficiency caused by mutations in BIRC4 was initially described in patients with X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome (XLP) who had no mutations in SH2D1A. In the initial reports, EBV-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) was the predominant clinical phenotype. Among 25 symptomatic patients diagnosed with XIAP deficiency, we identified 17 patients who initially presented with manifestations other than HLH. These included Crohn-like bowel disease (n. =. 6), severe infectious mononucleosis (n. =. 4), isolated splenomegaly (n. =. 3), uveitis (n. =. 1), periodic fever (n. =. 1), fistulating skin abscesses (n. =. 1) and severe Giardia enteritis (n. =. 1). Subsequent manifestations included celiac-like disease, antibody deficiency, splenomegaly and partial HLH. Screening by flow cytometry identified 14 of 17 patients in our cohort. However, neither genotype nor protein expression nor results from cell death studies were clearly associated with the clinical phenotype. Only mutation analysis can reliably identify affected patients. XIAP deficiency must be considered in a wide range of clinical presentations.